Water fountain pump

[SunEagle]

SunEagle , the CC has connection slots marked for panel, battery and load. Logan005, any thoughts as to why my load would just "disappear" from the screen as if it wasn't connected?

It might be due to the CC programming which will turn off the "load" or the "load" doesn't meet the CC conditions of what it is.

[ScottRanch]

it's very odd that this used to work fine and now I am having these issues. The sun is out today, so I disconnected it and connected battery, panel then load and within 2 min, the pump stopped. I had been running it through CC without the panel connected all day yesterday. Not great output. So after it didn't work today when I disconnected and reconnected, I bypassed the CC and battery and connected the panel to the pump. GREAT output! So this tells me I am losing power with the CC also. My battery is at about 12.2 now. Should I forget all this and trench a power line? I hate to give up! This has to be able to work. I have a big enough set up it should be able to keep up and run my pump 24x7 and keep the water clear. HELP!

[Logan005]

12.2 is about 55% SOC meaning your battery is essentially dead. I set my LVD to 12.0 or 50% However most cheap Chinese CC's will not cut out until 11.5 therefore damaging your battery. I think your battery is dead and or damaged from previous over discharge. You need to connect your battery to a stiff AC source, A smart charger powered from AC current, or generator ASAP!

[SunEagle]

12.2 volts is too low to run your pump and your controller is turning it off. Also 12.2v is too low for a 12volt battery and will reduce it's life to very little.

[ScottRanch]

BTW, this is the CC. https://www.amazon.com/Controller-Re.../dp/B018ICLC3K

[Logan005]

"Discharge stop:10.7V(default,adjustable)" 10.7 volts will turn your battery into a door stop. Adjust this to 12.0 volts no less.

[ScottRanch]

Mohoo 20A Charge Controller Solar Charge Regulator Intelligent USB Port Display 12V-24

[SunEagle]

Well that CC should work. You say that if you just hook up the battery and then the pump it works but if you also connect the solar panel it does not?

[ScottRanch]

Right. If I disconnect and then reconnect battery, panel and then pump, the pump runs for a bit and then CC doesn't show any load connected. Maybe there are setting I don't have right or something, but I couldn't find anything. Normal display is when the panel is connected, I see a panel, when battery is connected I see a battery (with flashing arrow between panel and battery telling me it's charging) and when load is connected I see a picture of a light bulb. So when it runs a few minutes, the pic of the light bulb disappears and no output to the pump.

[SunEagle]

Based on what I read in the add the CC will shut off the load if the battery voltage goes below 12.6volts. It might be above that when you start the pump but the battery discharges too much and the low voltage cut off shuts it down.

[inetdog]

Some Solar Controllers (not called Charge Controllers) have a feature which lets you use the Load terminals for solar lighting. When there is power coming from the panel it figures it is not night and it turns the lights (Load Terminals) off. Read the manual to see how to change this option.
And consider attaching the pump to the battery directly, with an external Low Voltage Cutoff (LVC) relay. The Load terminals, when set for LVC, let the battery be drawn down too far, to too low a voltage.

[SunEagle]

Some Solar Controllers (not called Charge Controllers) have a feature which lets you use the Load terminals for solar lighting. When there is power coming from the panel it figures it is not night and it turns the lights (Load Terminals) off. Read the manual to see how to change this option.
And consider attaching the pump to the battery directly, with an external Low Voltage Cutoff (LVC) relay. The Load terminals, when set for LVC, let the battery be drawn down too far, to too low a voltage.

I considered telling the OP to connect the pump to the battery terminals but I also believe he wanted to only run the pump for a specific time. That is when the load terminals come in handy as long as they work.

He would need to install some type of relay that turns off the pump after a period of time or just run the pump 24hours a day. Hopefully the battery will not get drained.

[inetdog]

I considered telling the OP to connect the pump to the battery terminals but I also believe he wanted to only run the pump for a specific time. That is when the load terminals come in handy as long as they work.

I don't know of any solar controllers that have a timed run option like that except for the ones that let you choose how long to run the "lights" after the sun goes down (panel stops producing).
It sounds like he may need a time-of-day controller for the pump instead.

[ScottRanch]

There is a Work Mode setting that defaults to 24H. I assumed that meant I want it to run for 24H. The discharge stop is at 10.7 and the discharge reconnect is at 12.6. Not following what that means. Discharge stop I understand is probably that the load cuts off, but what is discharge reconnect? Seems like very little play room here between charging and discharging for it to run all night.

[Logan005]

turn the work mode back to 24hrs, adjust your LVD=Low voltage disconnect to 12.0 volts, not 10.7, leave your reconnect at 12.6 and it should work fine.

[Logan005]

a fish-less pond does not need to run all night. when I ran my pond on solar, it ran all day and most of the night, but you can get along w/o mosquito's on much less run time.

[SunEagle]

I don't know of any solar controllers that have a timed run option like that except for the ones that let you choose how long to run the "lights" after the sun goes down (panel stops producing).
It sounds like he may need a time-of-day controller for the pump instead.

I agree some of the controllers use the sunlight to determine when to run the load if it is only a light. But others just have a time duration setting based on a number of hours. I will have to go back and check to see what is the trigger point or if you can program the time of day.

[inetdog]

I agree some of the controllers use the sunlight to determine when to run the load if it is only a light. But others just have a time duration setting based on a number of hours. I will have to go back and check to see what is the trigger point or if you can program the time of day.

The OP's description of the Load indicator and the light icon both going off a short time after connecting the panel pretty well nails down that as the cause.

[ScottRanch]

Yes I am beginning to wonder about he controller. I had nothing connected and the load display was on and shut off. I am running it now with panel not connected. Just battery and pump